Tri-City Area and Real Estate Blog

Local CEO’s and Community Business Leaders will come together with members of the Young Professionals of Tri-Cities in a charity softball game Thursday May 27th at GESA Stadium in Pasco, with the game being promoted as “The Battle of the Ages”.   Employees from Infinia Corporation and the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce comprise both teams, with a few extra local business leaders making up the “Suits Team”.  The game starts at 6:00 p.m. and tickets are $10 & $15.  The ticket proceeds will benefit the Greater Tri-Cities YMCA and are available at the locations below:

• TRIDEC Office – 7130 W. Grandridge Blvd in Kennewick 
• YMCA – 1234 Columbia Park Trail in Richland, and
• GESA Stadium in Pasco

Highlands Middle School in Kennewick was the scene of wonderful appreciation ceremony honoring local area Veterans. The last few years the staff and middle school students of Highlands have developed a “Take a Vet to School” ceremony that pays homage to those Veterans that have served and are currently serving our great nation, and each year the event has grown. This year there were about 70 Vets there to enjoy the attention given by the students.

Kudos to these young people for their understanding of the importance of showing our military, past and present, gratitude for their service and sacrifice to our country!

Here is link to the Tri-City Herald’s photo page, which shows photos taken.
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/galleries/gallery/781973.html

For the sixth year in a row, generous Tri-Citians reached into their purses, wallets or backpacks and supported the children of our community by purchasing the special edition Kids Day newspaper from volunteers clad in red t-shirts standing on street corners throughout the Tri-Cities.

Volunteers from various businesses and organizations throughout the Kennewick, Pasco, Richland and West Richland areas came together to sell the special newspapers, thus benefiting children’s programs run by Catholic Family & Child Services.

The Kennewick City Council wants to see more progress made toward building a regional facility, and likes the idea of using a metropolitan parks district to pay for it.

The council discussed a possible regional facility during a workshop meeting Tuesday.

Such a facility could be an aquatic center or a performing arts center, but the council would like to see the Regional Facilities Oversight Committee step back and take a look at all possible projects.

The committee is made up of representatives from Kennewick, Pasco and Richland and has led the discussion of a facility all three would combine to build for the last few years.

But Kennewick council members are getting antsy that not enough is happening and agreed Tuesday to tell the committee they want something done.

Among the messages they plan to send is that they want the committee to find an independent third party, such as the League of Women Voters, to lead a public forum so Tri-Citians can say what kind of facility they want and how they’re willing to pay for it.

The council said it leaned toward wanting a parks district that would levy property taxes, than a regional public facilities district that would rely upon sales taxes.

Source: Tri-City Herald

The Kennewick-Pasco-Richland area is ranked 30th lowest in the nation in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest list of unemployment rates for metropolitan areas.

With a 6.1 percent unemployment rate, the Tri-Cities shared the spot with Cheyenne, Wyoming; Honolulu; Idaho Falls, Idaho; Lawrence, Kan.; Lubbock, Texas; and Madison, Wis.

Bismark, ND, with an unemployment rate of 3.1 percent, was lowest on the list. The national unemployment rate stood at 9.7 percent.

Source: Tri City Herald

The Tri-City Regional Hotel-Motel Commission approved the 2010 budget and business and marketing plan for the Tri-Cities Regional Tourism Promotion Area on Wednesday at its monthly meeting.

The budget for next year will remain at $810,000. That’s the same amount budgeted in 2008 and 2009, though the commission used $13,800 from reserves this year to boost the opportunity fund, which is money used to help offset the cost of big groups coming to town for sporting events and conventions.

Marketing to potential visitors from San Francisco and British Columbia is a new component of the 2010 plan. Commissioners and others in the local hotel industry see residents in those markets as strong candidates to become new visitors to the area.

The TPA was created in 2004 and allows hotels with more than 40 rooms to collect a $1.50 fee for each hotel room rented. The money is used to market the Tri-Cities throughout the Northwest and to bring in more spending events, conventions and individual travelers.

Source: Tri-City Herald